Bowling card game



NOV. 29, 1938. P R FEHER 2,1382??? BOWLING CARD GAME Filed June 10, 19372 Sheets-Sheet l BOWLING CARD GAME eeeeeee ET dllllllllllflllluilllltllll llmmm "will" 1. SNVENTOR FRANK R. FEHER fad 40L ATTo wz Nov.29, ms. F. R. FEHER 2,138,272

' BOWLING CARD GAME Filed June 10, 1937' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IllllllllllllINVENTOR FRANK R. FEHER ,Q 4. ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 29, 1938 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE BOWLING CARD GAME Frank R. Feher, Passaic, N. J.

Application June 10, 1937, Serial No. 147,409

3 Claims.

It is an object of my invention to incorporate in a deck of playingcards, the various plays occurring in a regular conventional bowlinggame, so that by following certain rules .and regula- 5 tions, the gameof bowling can be played merely by the use of said deck of playing cardswith an ordinary bowling score sheet.

It is a further object of my invention to mak the game of card bowlingone of skill, whereby the players, through manipulation of their cardsin accordance with the rules and regulations of the game, may derive thehighest possible score in ten frames of the game. Manipulation of theplaying cards by the participants in the game,

may determine the ultimate winner in a close game.

A further object of the invention is to devise a game which iseducational in character. By means of pictorial information printed onthe cards, valuable information is imparted to the highly amusing toparticipants, especially if the latter are regular bowlers. On the otherhand, a person need not know how tobowl in order to playthis card game,since by following a few simple rules and regulations, the game can be.30 readily mastered. For purposes of illustration,

I show my card game by the attached drawings, in which: V

Fig. 1 shows various face cards of my deck, including strikes, a foulcard, miss cards and .35 spares.

Fig. 1A shows the remaining face cards of my deck, which in thisparticular instance, happen to be all spares.

Fig. 2 illustrates the pictorial representation on the reverse side ofeach of the playing cards.

Fig. 3 illustrates a scoring sheet used during the course of play, ofthe game.

The deck of cards comprising my game, total cards in a complete deck. Itis understood, of

.145 course, that the number of cards might be varied more or lesswithout defeating the purpose and intent of the game. In my ownparticular case, 23 of the cards are strike cards, as illustrated by thenumeral l, in Fig. 1. As indicated in the .50 upper left and right handcorners of these strike cards, a strike insignia is shown. Also alongthe upper right hand edge of the card, the word Strike is printed. Thepicture on the strike cards show all 10 pins being knocked down by ;5 5the bowling ball. Included in the deck also, is

edge of the card is the word Foul.

a single foul card characterized in Fig. 1 by the numeral 2. In theupper left hand corner of the card is a Strike mark, but in the upperright hand corner of the card, is the customary Spare mark. Also printedalong the upper right hand :5

The significance of the foul card, is that on the first ball the playerhas committed a foul, such as by over-stepping the playing line. Thoughhe may have actually disposed of all the pins on the foul .10 playnevertheless, he does not get a strike score. On the second ball theplayer again disposes of all 10 pins; However, since his first ball wasfouled, the second ball merely results in a spare.

Included in my deck there are 8 miss cards. 515 These cards aredesignated in Fig. 1, by numerals 3 to ID inclusive. Thus for the cardindicated by numeral 3, the numeral 5 in the upper left corner indicatesthat the player has disposed of 5 pins on the first ball. The numeral 1in thel-20 upper right hand corner indicates that the number of pinsdisposed of by two balls, totals 7. In other words, of the remaining 5pins standing, the player has disposed of but 2 of said pins with hissecond ball. Along the upper right hand-25 edge of the card is printedthe word Miss. The same interpretation is given to the other cardsdesignated by the numerals 4 to Ill inclusive, and the total score forthat card will always be indicated in the upper right hand corner. Ex-20 amination of the various miss cards will show that the cards containdifferent scores. It will also be noted that the various pictorialrepresentations show the relative position of the bowling ball withrespect to the pins, which will re-,;3 5

sult in the score indicated on the card.

The remaining cards in the deck comprise spare cards, of which there are28, and which are designated by numerals H to 22 inclusive in Fig. 1,and numerals 23 to 38 inclusive in Fig.;.l0 1A. Taking the cardindicated by character 20, in Fig. 1, it will be noted that character Iin the upper left corner of the card indicates that 7 pins were disposedof with the first ball. The conventional spare mark in the upper righthandrfl= corner indicates that the remaining 3 pins were disposed ofwith the second ball, thus resulting in a spare. Along the upper righthand edge of the card is printed the word Spare. The pictorialrepresentations on the various spare cardsliO varies, but in all cases,the second ball bowled, is shown disposing of the remaining pinsstanding. It is apparent that the various pictorial representations ofthe pins might be varied or even eliminated. nsofar as the impor an data,55

. game.

on the playing cards is the information contained in the upper left andright hand corners of the cards.

In Fig. 2 is shown a pictorial representation of a bowler which is acommon print on the reverse side of each of my playing cards.

Fig. 3 illustratesa conventional score sheet, wherein provision is madefor the name of the players or participants, and also 10 frames areprovided for marking the score of the players.

Directions for playing Any number of players up to five can play at onetime. time until each player has three cards in his hand. The remainingcards are placed in the center of the table, preferably in a pile, facedown. The player on the left of the dealer starts the playing by drawinga card from the top of the pile. This will give the starting player fourcards in his hand. He must now select one of these four cards, whichwill be his score in the first frame on the score sheet. This selectedcard he discards, and thus has remaining in his hand three cards. Thesecond player in the game then takes the top card from the center pile,which will give him four cards in his hand from which he must discard asingle card in order to get his score for that frame. This procedure isrepeated with each player and for the ten frames of the game.

However, it should be noted that a player should have three cards in hishand, but must dispose of these cards toward the end of the game, sothat he will have discarded all of his cards to complete the tenthframe. Under any circumstances, a player must draw from thecenter of thepile, through at least the seventh frame. After the seventh frame,drawing from the center pile becomes optional and dependent upon thecharacter of the cards remaining in the players hand. The player mustmaneuver his play to complete the game in the tenth frame. If at the endof thetenthframe, he has one or more cards remaining in his hand, heloses the For example, if a player holds one Spare and two Strike cardsafter completing the eighth frame, he then starts to play his last threecards left in the ninth frame. Thus he plays the Spare card in the ninthframe, his two Strike cards in the tenth frame, and then draws anothercard from the center pile to add to the strike card of his tenth frameto complete the game.

If a player holds only three Miss cards going into the eighth frame, hemust not draw from the center pile; for in order to complete the game,he must discard a Miss card for the eighth, ninth and tenth frames. If aplayer holds a Miss, a Spare and a Strike card after playing in theeighth frame, he will thus discard the Miss card in the ninth frame, hisSpa-re card in the tenth frame, and also the Strike in the tenth frame,to be counted to his Spare card, which will complete that players game.Bear in mind that it is desirable for a player to hold three Strikecards for his tenth frame, if this is possible. This will enable him tostrike out in the last frame, giving the maximum score of in this frame,which might be necessary to winout over his competitors, if' the game isclose. If you have three Strike cards as suggested above, your last drawfrom the center pile is made in the ninth frame, since the player isstriking out in the tenth frame with the remaining cards in his hand. Ifa player has a Miss and two Spare cards after The dealer deals out onecard at a discarding in the eighth frame, he must start discarding inthe ninth frame these last three cards, in order to complete his play inthe tenth frame which is the final count.

Directions for scoring Keeping score, in reality, is a part of the gamewhich makes it educational. The manner of keeping score conforms withthe conventional practice as followed in a regular bowling game. A gameconsists of tenframes, as indicated on the score sheet of Fig. 3. As thegame progresses from the frame one to frame ten, the score is additive,so that the score in frame ten is the final total score. In keepingscore, a few simple fundamental rules should be borne .in mind.

If 10 pins are not made with the discarding card, in other words, a Misscard, count only the actual number of pins in the upper right handcorner of the card for your score in that frame.

If a spare is made, count 10 plus thenumbe'r of pins knocked down in theleft corner of the next card discarded.

Simply bear in mind that a strike means 10 pins, plus the pinnage on thenext two balls. A spare means 10 pins plus the pinnage on the next firstball. First ball means the total in the upper left hand corner of thebowling card. Second ball means the total in the upper right hand cornerof the bowling card. Continue to add the result of each complete frameuntil ten frames have been played, at which time, the players totalscore for the game will be had.

It is apparent that there might be variation in the game so far aschanging the value of cards is concerned, and the various insigniaplaced thereon. These changes might be made without diverting from theessence of my invention, which is covered by the scope of the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. A bowling card game comprising a deck of cards divided into fourgroups, the cards of each group being provided with respectiveclassifying indicia denoting strikes, spares, misses and fouls, andadditional indicia on said cards, with the exception of those belongingto the strike group, denoting in the opposite corners thereof the numberof points acquired by two successive balls, said designated cardsbearing a definite value relationship to each other during thecourse ofplay in accordance withspecific rules and regulations as herein setforth in the attached specification.

2. A bowling card game comprising a deck of cards divided into fourgroups, the cards of each group being provided with respectiveclassifying indicia denoting strikes, spares, misses and fouls,additional indicia on said cards, with the exception of those belongingto the strike group, denoting in the opposite corners thereof the numberof points acquired by two successive balls, and further indicia on saidcards indicating the position of the pins remaining after the firstball, said designated cards bearing a definite value'relationship toeach other during the course of play in accordance with specific rulesand regulations as herein set forth in the attached specification.

3. A bowling card game comprising a total of sixty cards divided intofour groups, the cards of each of said groups being provided withrespective classifying indicia to denote strikes, spares, misses andfouls, said strike group consisting of twenty-three cards each providedin the opposite corners thereof with a conventional strike mark, saidspare group consisting of twen ty-eight cards each of which is providedin one corner with indicia denoting the number of pins disposed of bythe first ball and the conventional spare mark in the directly oppositecorners, said missed group consisting of eight cards each having markedin directly opposite corners thereof the number of pins disposed of bytwo successive 10 balls, said foul group consisting of a single cardhaving the conventional strike and spare marks in the directly oppositecorners, and indicia on all of said cards indicating the position of thepins remaining after the first ball, said cards of the various groupsbearing a definite value re lationship to each other during the courseof play in accordance with specific rules and regulations as herein setforth in the attached specification.

FRANK R. FEHER.

